


with broken words I've tried to say it

by spacs



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-05 03:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20482121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacs/pseuds/spacs
Summary: “In service to the crown,” Ignis confirms.“Just the crown, hm? No shout out to your best friend Noct?”Behind him, Ignis chuckles. “It’s all for you, Noct. Always.”





	with broken words I've tried to say it

**Author's Note:**

> title from "Something I Need" by OneRepublic
> 
> So I'm not dead. I was looking at my tumblr randomly the other day and saw that I'd posted this in response to an anon making a request for a dialogue prompt, "Prove it," specifically with Ignoct alternative happy ending. It was a great prompt and I know I had a lot of fun writing this.

Gods, Ignis is tall.

Even when Ignis stands a flight of stairs below, while Noctis is sitting on an _actual throne_, he is tall. Even as he _bows_, arm faithfully cast over his chest and behind his back, he is tall. He embodies, wholly, his father’s timeless mantra.

But it’s the smile and the proud look gleaming in his eye that steals Noctis’s breath away. He still remembers seeing that light almost burn out, the broken whisper of his name, and the frailty of ashen skin against his fingertips. To him, it feels like yesterday that he saw Ignis on the brink of death, flirting with the darkness and the punishment that came from wearing the ring.

“Your majesty.”

It still feels weird - hearing Ignis address him with that title. He’s been _highness_ his entire life. But he can feel the crown, woven between his hair and sitting cold against his skull, reminding him that he’s grown from a boy to a man - a prince to a king.

Still…

“Please,” Noct scoffs, drumming his fingers against the armrest and cocking his head. “_Your majesty_ was my _father_.”

Ignis narrows his eyes, pouts his lips, and lifts his chin. He scrutinizes Noct with the same calculation he would when they were children - still new to a relationship with the crown prince, sussing out where friendship ended and duty began. A hard line to dance at times, and Noctis knows he didn’t make it easy.

“Does that mean I didn’t get promoted?”

And yet, they dance the line all the same.

Noct lets out a laugh that echoes through the empty chamber and stands. He’s still getting used to this older body, one that creaks more and moves slower. The ring on his finger is no longer so heavy, the magic drained from its life and now just a relic - a symbol of a darker time.

His steps are loud as he descends to the same landing as Ignis. He is so tall. His hands folded neatly at attention behind his back, eyes following his king’s every move, and still so beautiful, despite the scars. Perhaps even more so because of the scars. Noctis may be the king, but being the subject of Ignis’s unyielding attention has, and always will, make his heart stutter in his chest.

“I could keep pretending, but we both know that I never would have made it half this far without you.” Noct plants a hand on Ignis’s shoulder and relishes in the humble, almost shy, smile that crosses Ignis’s lips as he ducks his head.

“It is my duty, and my pleasure.”

“Your pleasure?” Noctis scoffs, pushing playfully at Ignis’s shoulder before turning down the steps to head for the chamber entrance. “Getting kidnapped by a psycho, then almost dying by being burned alive from the _inside_ by my _dead relatives _was your pleasure?”

“In service to the crown,” Ignis confirms with a hint of his darker humor, loyal, as he follows Noct down.

“Just the crown, hm? No shout out to your best friend Noct?”

Behind him, Ignis chuckles. “It’s all for you, Noct. Always.”

_Always_. He’s been saying that for as long as Noct can remember - a symbol of both his duty and their enduring friendship; a sign that the line they dance can blur and change.

_You’ve got my back?_

_Always_.

“Prove it,” he blurts, reaching the bottom of the stairs. He turns on his heel to look at Ignis, who now stands two steps above him, as tall in height and demeanor as ever.

“I haven’t a clue as to how you’d like me to do that.” Ignis unfolds his hands from behind his back to adjust the sleeves around his wrists. He doesn’t join Noct on the same level. “Was getting captured by a psycho, then almost dying by being burned alive by your dead relatives not enough?”

“You said that was in service to the crown,” Noct points out, his tone light as he tilts his head challengingly.

“You _are _the crown.”

A fair counter. “Maybe,” he acquiesces. “But to you, I’m just Noct.”

Ignis lifts his chin and Noct can’t help the way his eyes follow those lips as they tighten before a hand comes up to nudge his glasses, which aren’t there. Ignis frowns at his hand, curling his fingers before setting his arm back to his side. He’s nervous, apparent by the light shade of pink dusting his cheekbones - gods, those _cheekbones_.

Noctis is struck once more by how beautiful his advisor is - _official_ advisor now.

“Noct,” he starts, his voice just barely hesitant. “All I did - all I’ve ever done, to be frank - has been for you. There were times where things were for the crown - I don’t relish doing an absurd amount of paperwork on traffic patterns in the city, for instance - but everything _else_… it was you.” Ignis’s lips purse closed before he hurriedly adds, “_For_ you, rather.”

It isn’t a lie. Noctis knows it isn’t. Ignis was tasked with watching over Noct from a young age, and at first it was mostly friendship. But the purpose was for Ignis to be groomed into the perfect, loyal advisor - maybe if Ardyn had an Ignis things could have been different.

But Ignises don’t grow on trees. Ignis is _special_ because there were so many times that the plan could have backfired. Noct said so many terrible things and his actions were not always princely. Ignis had practically unlimited access to both the king and prince, not to mention extremely classified intelligence on security, the city, the Citadel, and so, so much more. There was something else that kept him by Noct’s side and recent events - recent to _him_ anyway, he was asleep for ten years - have begun to make him question what that could be.

Ignis was too good for Noct, _to_ Noct. More than anything Noct deserves. Selfless, forgiving, kind, compassionate, smart, _beautiful_. They’d been put together as children and told what their destiny together would bring but it was more than that. It was a deep, unyielding connection. Something that would transcend time and space, Noct thinks, if given the chance.

Noct is in love with him.

“Then do something for yourself for once, Specs.”

And maybe, _maybe_, Ignis feels the same. It would be more than he would deserve but _gods_ he wants it so bad.

“Noct, this is hardly the time.” He finally takes the last few steps, making to lead Noctis out of the throne room. “We have a new arrival of citizens—“

“Ignis, seriously,” Noct interrupts, catching his wrist to stop him.

Ignis sighs and doesn’t turn back to him. “I… I live for _you,_ Noct,” he says quietly. Slowly, Ignis looks at him from over his shoulder. “That was all I asked for. In exchange for my life, you would have yours. I don’t need anything else as long as you have your life - it is enough that, by some miracle or gift, I still have mine when I was so ready to lay it down for yours. So, I don’t need to do something for myself.”

His grip tightens around Ignis’s wrist. “Fine,” he relents, but doesn’t let go. “Then do it for me. Just one thing that would make you happy.”

Ignis straightens and turns back to him, their hands hanging between them since Noctis won’t let go. He looks between Noct’s eyes, searching and lost, lips parting with his confusion.

“Please,” Noct adds belatedly.

_Please_, I’m so in love with you and I just need to know if you feel the same as I do.

_Please_, just kiss me if that’s what you want, if that’s what would make you happy, because that’s what would make me happy too.

_Please_ understand, is what he means. He’s never been the best with wording his feelings and it would be too embarrassing to say _I love you_ out loud because what if Ignis doesn’t feel _that_ kind of love for him?

Ignis understands. He _always_ understands.

One moment they’re standing and looking, then the next Ignis pulls Noct close from where his hand is still wrapped around Ignis’s wrist, and with grace and quickness that are just downright unfair, his free hand slides through black hair on the back of Noct’s neck, and tilts his head up for their lips to meet.

Immediately, Noct snakes his arms around Ignis’s waist, while Ignis uses the freedom of his wrist to place both hands on Noct’s neck, tilting his head to deepen the kiss.

Noct can only sees stars behind his eyes.

It’s perfect. Ignis is perfect.

_Gods_, Ignis is tall.

**Author's Note:**

> I miss writing my boys and I still have some projects in the works. I'd say hit me up on tumblr but I'm never there anymore, so the best way to reach me is through the comments here. And maybe twitter. I check that sometimes.
> 
> Twitter @sspacs


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